Street Children: Cruel Fate and Harsh Reality

Whenever I see those innocent victims suffering, questions start popping up in my head. Street children or Homeless children both are two terms used to describe those invisible souls. The phenomenon of street children is prevalent in all societies around the world. You will find them everywhere in the streets sleeping, working, and struggling with their unknown fate. Streets are their home, where they face all types of violence: physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, and psychological violence.

When we started our journey with those victims, we figured out how dangerous their life is. Every day, they face dehumanizing situations. I remember the tears of a young boy who was trying to earn money to help his ill mother. I remember his pale face and slender body. I remember his relentless efforts to do whatever he can, so as not to see his poor mama suffers.

“Mama is dying she is the only thing I have,” he told us.

Hospitals refuse to receive them because they don’t have any form of identification, nor a guarantee that they will be able to pay the fees. Consequently, they suffer from many diseases that make them breathe pain of all colors of sorrow and despair. They didn’t choose their fate to be poor or to be criminals. They are threatened for being voiceless.

People call them the trash of society for their ignorance and rough manners. In 2014, authorities estimated Egypt had around 16,000 youngsters and children living on the streets. UNICEF Head of Communications in Egypt, Jonathan Crickx believes this is a massive "underestimation" of actual numbers.

In 2016, Egypt launched the national program Atfal bala ma'wa (Children without a Home) with the aim of "integrating" street children and helping them "abandon street behavior," as Mohamed Shaker, Director of the Program, at the Ministry of Social Solidarity explained.

In addition, the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood launched a Strategy for the Protection and Rehabilitation of Street Children in Egypt. The program has been successfully helping street children by developing their skills and moving them away from the streets. The program also seeks to change the way the community perceives those children.

Homeless Children are the victims of the ignorance of society. Poverty is a criminal fate that these innocent souls suffer from. We should know that we are part of this suffering. Society must provide centers for the psychological and professional rehabilitation of these children, and take serious and rapid steps towards the eradication of poverty.

#Leave_your_mark